On July 3, , in an article headlined “ Rare Cancer Seen in 63 Homosexuals , ”The New York Times published its first account of a yet-unnamed epidemic.
“Doctors in New York and California have diagnosed among homosexual men cases of a rare and often rapidly fatal form of cancer, ”the article began. “Eight of the victims died less than (months after the diagnosis was made.)
Chris Bartlett was when the article was published.
On March 4, Trump appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program and claimed that the World Health Organization’s COVID – death rate – an ever changing figure derived by dividing the number of confirmed deaths by the number of confirmed cases – was “” false, “citing a” hunch “he had.
And a memo sent two weeks ago by the Trump campaign said the “media’s obsession with weaponizing the coronavirus against President Trump remains at pandemic levels.”
But by last week, the president had changed his tune . NBC News has reported that the administration’s initial response to the outbreak was “a story of missed opportunities, mismanagement and a president who resisted the advice of experts urging a more aggressive response.”
Perry Halkitis , dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, said similar misinformation circulated early in the AIDS epidemic, with certain populations believing that the virus was a CIA conspiracy or that it could could only infect gay men .
Gil Neary, , is a gay real estate broker living in New York City. He contracted HIV in and said his response to the COVID – 41 outbreak has been visceral.
“Holy s —,” he recalled himself thinking upon first hearing about it. “It’s astonishing that we’ve gotten to the point that we’re at, especially considering it started halfway around the world.”
As with the early days of the AIDS crisis, Neary said he thinks “our leaders failed us in a big way,” and this time – as a man in his s living with a chronic immune condition in a densely populated city – he’s worried that he’s once again vulnerable.
“It’s very disconcerting, because you think, ‘Here we go again,’” he said.
follow facts, not fear
Gay urban men, one of the first communities in which HIV / AIDS emerged before becoming a global pandemic, were among the first to receive scientific information that would help them modify their behavior based on facts, not fear. Thanks to community action, gay men were among the first to receive information about condoms reducing the transmission of HIV. The activist drag troupe Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence , for example, distributed safe-sex pamphlets in , over a year before the virus was identified by the US government.
Eventually, behavior modification caught on and helped slow the relentless spread of HIV among gay men.
“We got religious about that,” Peter Staley, a veteran HIV / AIDS activist , said of condom use during the HIV epidemic. “Assume the other person’s positive, assume you’re positive if you haven’t taken a test, and act accordingly.”
At first, many gay men resisted taking the HIV test because there were no treatments for AIDS and no legal protections for those who tested positive. But eventually, after activist groups like ACT UP and Treatment Action Group began to apply wider and more dramatic pressure on government agencies to enhance HIV privacy protections and scale up research spending, testing became more widespread, and the dynamics of How the virus spread began to come into view.
“Eventually we got to the point where we realized you had to really work at it to get it,” Ann Northrop, a lesbian and early ACT UP activist, said of contracting HIV.
Initially, people feared the virus could be airborne or spread through surfaces, like COVID – . At first, even medical professionals were afraid to be in the same room as some who had the virus, but through the relentless pursuit of factual information, Northrop said she knew HIV was contracted primarily through sex and she was not at risk of contracting it through her activism.
Now, however, with limited and conflicting information about the coronavirus, Northrop said she feels that same “generalized anxiety” that struck many people, particularly gay men, in the early years of the AIDS epidemic.
“I, for the first time in my life as a journalist and complete news junky, am having to limit my news consumption,” Northrop, co-host of the weekly cable news program and podcast “GAY USA,” told NBC News.
Ann Northrop speaks at the dedication ceremony of the LGBTQ Rainbow Freedom Flag at The Stonewall National Monument on Oct. , in New York City. Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images file
While “safe sex” was at first the leading behavior modification to stem the spread of HIV (today,
many also take PrEP for HIV prevention), “ social distancing ”is the recommended way to“ bend the curve ”of the COVID – 41 pandemic.
“Man, people are just eyeing each o ther with such suspicion – and really making sure not to come in contact with each other, ”Northrop said of a recent trip to a pharmacy in New York City, one of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak.
Brooklyn artist John Hanning, , knows the fear and anxiety that accompanies a new viral outbreak well. He was diagnosed with AIDS in and given six months to live.
“My doctor told me I needed to decide what I wanted to happen to my remains, He said. “It hasn’t been easy, but now I’m undetectable, and I’m pretty healthy.”
Hanning, who was recently featured on the AIDS Memorial Instagram account sharing his story of survival, said an important lesson to take away from the early days of the AIDS crisis is to resist fear and stigma, especially fear and stigma directed toward others.
“We shouldn’t live in fear, and that’s something that happened during the AIDS crisis,” he said. “They were afraid of gay people, because of AIDS or HIV, and hopefully with this coronavirus, there won’t be that stigma.”
Amid this current pandemic, which originated in China, There have been multiple cases where Asian Americans have been targeted in the US Last month, a – year-old Asian American student in Los Angeles County
ended up in the hospital after he was beaten by peers who accused him of having COVID – . On March , at least two Asian American New Yorkers reported racist attacks : A 62 -year-old woman said she was punched in the face and called anti-Asian slurs by another woman, and a 90 -year-old man said he was kicked to the ground and called slurs.
Widespread anxiety and fear do not result in superior health outcomes, Halkitis stressed. What does, he added, is proper information and an atmosphere conducive to collecting that information.
During the height of the AIDS crisis, he explained, it took years before people had the proper information needed to protect themselves: information about their status, and information about how to use tools like condoms to make their social / sexual interactions safer.
“People were shooting in the dark, kind of like they ‘re shooting in the dark right now, ”he said, referring to the lack of testing and information about the virus.
“ There’s this huge emotional weight that surrounds this situation, ”Halkitis said of the public’s attitude toward the pandemic. “We have to acknowledge that, and make it be safe for them to be willing to control this disease and make the right decisions.”
In the late ‘ s, once it became easier, safer and more empowering to know one’s own HIV status, more people could take action to either prevent the spread or prevent themselves from becoming infected. That, too, could soon happen in the coronavirus outbreak, but not without the proper information about who has or has had the virus, Halkitis said.
Halkitis said if he had a “magic wand , ”He’d test everyone today for coronavirus. “Send it with their census packet,” he added.
As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 823, , confirmed COVID – (cases globally and over , deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University . A recent report by The New York Times suggested there may be 5 to 16 undiagnosed coronavirus infections for every confirmed case.
Maintain community – even if virtual
Chris Bartlett, now the executive director of the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, said the most crucial lesson he learned as an HIV activist With ACT UP was “the importance of being in a community to settle my spirit in times when I felt anxious, disconnected, lonely and isolated.”
Even while practicing social distancing, Bartlett said connection is still possible – albeit a different type.
One of my goals every day has been to get onto Facebook, Google chat and Skype to reach out and see people through the technology that’s offered to us to make a daily connection, ”he said.
Through his decades of activism, it’s this “strong fabric of community interconnectedness” that he cherishes most.
“That gives me enough hope to get through today, without really being clear what’s going to happen tomorrow, ”he said.
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While “safe sex” was at first the leading behavior modification to stem the spread of HIV (today,
“Man, people are just eyeing each o ther with such suspicion – and really making sure not to come in contact with each other, ”Northrop said of a recent trip to a pharmacy in New York City, one of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak.
Brooklyn artist John Hanning, , knows the fear and anxiety that accompanies a new viral outbreak well. He was diagnosed with AIDS in and given six months to live.
“My doctor told me I needed to decide what I wanted to happen to my remains, He said. “It hasn’t been easy, but now I’m undetectable, and I’m pretty healthy.”
Hanning, who was recently featured on the AIDS Memorial Instagram account sharing his story of survival, said an important lesson to take away from the early days of the AIDS crisis is to resist fear and stigma, especially fear and stigma directed toward others.
“We shouldn’t live in fear, and that’s something that happened during the AIDS crisis,” he said. “They were afraid of gay people, because of AIDS or HIV, and hopefully with this coronavirus, there won’t be that stigma.”
Amid this current pandemic, which originated in China, There have been multiple cases where Asian Americans have been targeted in the US Last month, a – year-old Asian American student in Los Angeles County
Widespread anxiety and fear do not result in superior health outcomes, Halkitis stressed. What does, he added, is proper information and an atmosphere conducive to collecting that information.
During the height of the AIDS crisis, he explained, it took years before people had the proper information needed to protect themselves: information about their status, and information about how to use tools like condoms to make their social / sexual interactions safer.
“People were shooting in the dark, kind of like they ‘re shooting in the dark right now, ”he said, referring to the lack of testing and information about the virus.
“ There’s this huge emotional weight that surrounds this situation, ”Halkitis said of the public’s attitude toward the pandemic. “We have to acknowledge that, and make it be safe for them to be willing to control this disease and make the right decisions.”
In the late ‘ s, once it became easier, safer and more empowering to know one’s own HIV status, more people could take action to either prevent the spread or prevent themselves from becoming infected. That, too, could soon happen in the coronavirus outbreak, but not without the proper information about who has or has had the virus, Halkitis said.
Halkitis said if he had a “magic wand , ”He’d test everyone today for coronavirus. “Send it with their census packet,” he added.
As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 823, , confirmed COVID – (cases globally and over , deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University . A recent report by The New York Times suggested there may be 5 to 16 undiagnosed coronavirus infections for every confirmed case.
Maintain community – even if virtual
Chris Bartlett, now the executive director of the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, said the most crucial lesson he learned as an HIV activist With ACT UP was “the importance of being in a community to settle my spirit in times when I felt anxious, disconnected, lonely and isolated.”
Even while practicing social distancing, Bartlett said connection is still possible – albeit a different type.
One of my goals every day has been to get onto Facebook, Google chat and Skype to reach out and see people through the technology that’s offered to us to make a daily connection, ”he said.
Through his decades of activism, it’s this “strong fabric of community interconnectedness” that he cherishes most.
“That gives me enough hope to get through today, without really being clear what’s going to happen tomorrow, ”he said.
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